The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box
Directed by Jonathan Newman. Written by Christian Taylor and Matthew Huffman
Movie number two for Angelique takes over the Chicken Shack is a small British young adult adventure movie based on a series of books. I bet you're thinking how amazing it is that they made a movie about the Mariah Mundi series. Wait you've never heard of it. It did make about 6,000 dollars at the box office. I'm not surprised. This movie plays as if you know exactly who this is. I didn't so it took a bit to catch up with who everyone was and what was happening.
I will attempt to explain the plot of this film. Please be patient and bear with me. Mariah Mundi and his brother Felix are separated from his parents who were kidnapped by a megalomaniac named Luger played by Sam Neill. He believes they know the location of something called the Midas Box. Legends about it say it turns whatever you put into it turns to gold. This is not true. Nobody knows what the thing does. Felix is taken by Luger and Mariah heads to an island hotel to find him. That's pretty much it.
Mariah enlists the help of a teenage Scottish maid who knows the layout better than anyone. This movie is a mess. The entire beginning before we settle on the hotel flies by. The movie can't be bothered to offer any real explanation beyond a basic set up. You don't learn much about Mariah and you should because you're going to be spending the entire movie with him. He is an older brother that feels guilty about what happened to his brother. He falls in love with the maid. It's a whole thing.
It is very difficult not to laugh at his name. It's not quite as funny Det. Harry Hole from The Snowman but it is certainly pretty close. It might have been a regular name back in the Victorian age but it is commonly associated as a female name. Now if the film just had him surviving by his wits and the help of the Scottish maid then maybe it might have been okay. This movie however has the gall to introduce an infinitely more entertaining character into the mix played to perfection by Michael Sheen. I believe his name is Will Charity and I have a sneaking, gnawing feeling that he is the Adventurer of the title.
He is a debonair type with a penchant for the theatrical literally. You can't do that movie. You can't have a character pop in who piques your audience's interest and then throw back into the blah story with ole Mariah. That's not cool.
This is a strange film. It races through its runtime while engaging in slow motion downtime. It feels rushed and inadequate at the same time. The lead is a glorified cardboard cutout of a human being. This is not necessarily his fault but the writing sure didn't do him any favors. I can't imagine anyone not familiar with this book series getting into this movie. There is a better version of this story somewhere else. If you decide to check it out, don't say that you weren't warned. I give this one a D.
Movie number two for Angelique takes over the Chicken Shack is a small British young adult adventure movie based on a series of books. I bet you're thinking how amazing it is that they made a movie about the Mariah Mundi series. Wait you've never heard of it. It did make about 6,000 dollars at the box office. I'm not surprised. This movie plays as if you know exactly who this is. I didn't so it took a bit to catch up with who everyone was and what was happening.
I will attempt to explain the plot of this film. Please be patient and bear with me. Mariah Mundi and his brother Felix are separated from his parents who were kidnapped by a megalomaniac named Luger played by Sam Neill. He believes they know the location of something called the Midas Box. Legends about it say it turns whatever you put into it turns to gold. This is not true. Nobody knows what the thing does. Felix is taken by Luger and Mariah heads to an island hotel to find him. That's pretty much it.
Mariah enlists the help of a teenage Scottish maid who knows the layout better than anyone. This movie is a mess. The entire beginning before we settle on the hotel flies by. The movie can't be bothered to offer any real explanation beyond a basic set up. You don't learn much about Mariah and you should because you're going to be spending the entire movie with him. He is an older brother that feels guilty about what happened to his brother. He falls in love with the maid. It's a whole thing.
It is very difficult not to laugh at his name. It's not quite as funny Det. Harry Hole from The Snowman but it is certainly pretty close. It might have been a regular name back in the Victorian age but it is commonly associated as a female name. Now if the film just had him surviving by his wits and the help of the Scottish maid then maybe it might have been okay. This movie however has the gall to introduce an infinitely more entertaining character into the mix played to perfection by Michael Sheen. I believe his name is Will Charity and I have a sneaking, gnawing feeling that he is the Adventurer of the title.
He is a debonair type with a penchant for the theatrical literally. You can't do that movie. You can't have a character pop in who piques your audience's interest and then throw back into the blah story with ole Mariah. That's not cool.
This is a strange film. It races through its runtime while engaging in slow motion downtime. It feels rushed and inadequate at the same time. The lead is a glorified cardboard cutout of a human being. This is not necessarily his fault but the writing sure didn't do him any favors. I can't imagine anyone not familiar with this book series getting into this movie. There is a better version of this story somewhere else. If you decide to check it out, don't say that you weren't warned. I give this one a D.